Chapter 3

Dawn Doesn't Bring Happiness

Running through a large fog through what seems to be a maze and having the feeling of urgency I keep running. This fog getting thicker as I run but wanting to see the light of day so I keep running. Finally seeing the light that I wanted, but only to have the floor destroyed in front of me. I need to jump; I need to get free of the fog. Need to get away, jumping over the broken floorboards and looking down to see what looks like a void and blackness. Getting so close to the edge of the boards but seeing the board being ripped away again and me falling into this soup of blackness.

"Wake up, John wake up." One of my friends was in the next room and saw me tossing and turning in my bed. He grabbed my arm and shook it. My eyes were heavy and foggy so I rubbed them; I blanked them three times before I could focus them. "Oh good, you're awake. How do you feel today?" I looked over to the kid and recognized him, it was Mitch. "You remember what today's job is, right?" It took me a second to remember. "Yeah we are going hunting today." I replied. It was just after dawn so seven in the morning and my eyes still haven't gotten used to the sun light smacking me in the face. I reached for my glock off the floor, I grabbed the gun and the holster; fix my weapon's belt to my pants. "So, where we going?" I looked at Mitch. 'Mitch was older than most kids here but we have taught ourselves how to hunt, to survive, and to stay safe in a world that would kill you in any chance it gets.' I thought about where was a good place to hunt. "Well, there really aren't many places left. We picked everywhere clean of its resources without going into the cities, and most of the animals moved closer to the cities." There's three city's that are extremely infested with the Fallen but one of them has small group control over the Fallen infestation but they are a gang of brutes and crazed people trying to keep alive in a mostly destroyed world. But we really have no choice in the matter. "We are just going the closes city." Mitch pulled out the map from his pocket. I pointed to this large city. We could go to this city, City of Bones." This place is not as bad as it sounds it's just a place where a large gang stays. They had named it after the city got over run with rats, the body, and the bones were found there after the war. "We'll go there; we could post people to watch while we hunt. Sound good Mitch?" he shook his head signifying yes and went for his weapon, and we started for the others. "John what are we going to tell the others. (We lived with a group of seventeen people not elderly but an age group of seventeen through 28.) Not everyone likes being on the lookout because of what happen to Chris. The Fallen tour him apart on a similar hunting excursion." (The Fallen are creatures that used to be human; they have devolved into mindless killing machines. They kill anything that walks, no matter if it's human or not.) He looked at me with worried eyes. "I'll just take two people to keep watch, you know the First rule: Have two or more people watching the entry ways and our backs." He looks at me with discussed. I grabbed two of the guy that were staying with us and told them what we were getting in to. Their faces had 'ready but scared as fuck' look on them, but they went. We all ran snatched our bags and whatever else we needed. I grabbed my bag that had five boiled water bottles and a now blackened canteen. I use that for most of my water purification needs. I had three canned beans for me to cook and that was it. I walked to the entrance of the farm and waited. Moments later Mitch, then the guys were here.

On the way there I look at the ruined city we stop here and there to look for wild game and in small houses we see on the way to search for canned food. Finally we see the sign that says City Of Bones and underneath it was the Vipers gangs symbol the head of a viper. We had probably gone for nine hours searching for extra items on our way to the city. "John, dude we need to go back it's almost time for dinner, and the guys are getting hungry." I looked at the guy and they did look tired of walking. "Dude we need to stop for a break." Mitch exclaimed after looking at the guys. "All right we stop here for a little while." We slowly crept into a rusted two story apartment. We all checked the rooms for any sign of life or food. "Okay nothing is here." I picked the room to watch from a small room with a large window that had a fantastic view of a four blocks, while everyone else got some food in their bellies. Two more hours passed as we settled in for the night. But just before we could all say good night both guys started to get scared. They had every right to be but I was not about to leave the safety of this room. A quiet argument begun to befall our group, "John I don't want to say anymore in this city, It creeps me the fuck out man." One of the guys quietly said. "Y-yeah, this place just gives us the heeb-jeebs" Mitch remained silent. "Fine you guys go me and Mitch will stay… unless you want to go to." He looked at the ground the sighted, "Fine but at dawn we are going back." I looked toward the end of the block and waited.

Three hours from dawn and Mitch and I had been taking turns sleeping, three hours of sleep and a loud sound of glass and bricks crashing to the ground in the next room made me and Mitch jump out of our skins. "What the hell was that dude." Mitch whispered. I grabbed my gun and began moving toward the sound. Dust and debris covered the ground but the wall was gone; I searched for anything that would move. "You see anything John?" I kept looking around with my gun in hand, seeing nothing I turn to walk back at Mitch. "I have No Clue What That Was." Then another crash, this time a lot closer. I looked over the ledge of the building. "Dude I think we need to go!" I moved closer to the sound then what Mitch feared; it was one the Fallen was there. The creature saw me, a screeched a loud rawer. It echoed through the city surely to bring more. "Go! Run the creature ran after us with is claws sharp and black, trying to reach one of us. "Shoot it, shoot it" Mitch screamed. I pointed my revolver and with two shot to the head it hit the ground. I walk closely to the creature grabbed an old broom I poked at it. "It must be dead" I whispered. This Fallen, looks like it has been fighting with something. I holstered my revolver and I looked around, looking for anything to try to jump out from the darkness. "Well I think we aren't going to be able to go home today." I slowly said, crossing my arms. "Yeah, I won't go home with them lurking around, hell No." I looked around for a place to barricade us in so we would be safe for the night. "Dude, if you find anything that would help with the barricade just tap on the something twice, Okay." He looked around to look for anything that would block the doorway and I would listen for anything coming. I looked for old floorboards to block the door with. I saw a door to an old two story house that might have been a good place to stay but the door was gone. I walked in the old house slowly, peering over corners and up the stairs. Seeing nothing of interest I was about to leave when I heard something scuttle on the second floor. Poking my head to see what was up there, but nothing was up the stairs. Slowly I crept up the stairs; I peered over the railing to see if I saw anything. Seeing a small shadow of what looked like a child I slipped closer to the shadow. "Hello, it's okay I'm not here to hurt you." The shadow moved into the door way. I slowly crept to the doorway, listening for any noises. I went into the room where the shadow was. The small child was hiding in between the bed and the wall. "Hi little one, where are your parents." The little child slowly came out from the hiding place. She had red nappy hair, with dirt on her face and on her torn close. She has blue eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. "What's your name?" I asked. She just looked at me; there was no expression on her, just blank. I picked her up from behind the bed and set her down on the floor. "So what are you doing here?" I asked. Still nothing, I was getting nowhere with her; Then a loud crash from the next house. "We need to get out of here, it's not safe." I grabbed her hand and went to the stairs where I saw Mitch and a Fallen fighting it outside. "Mitch, run." I pulled out my gun that only had 3 shots left. Blam, Blam. I hit the creature in the chest and the arm. This creature fell to the ground and Mitch was running to the half rustaffied car. "Run to us," I yell. The creature flipped over and started running at us. The little girl lifted her hand and extended her fingers, it seemed to stop and then it started to float. I looked at the girl; her eyes were glowing sapphire blue with a ting of red in her pupils. She flung her hand left and the creature moved with it. She moved her and down and the creature fell down and ran off. "What… was that?" Mitch asked. He looked at me then her. His face looked confused and the girl looked at me and said "Hanna, my name is Hanna." I looked at Mitch and he looked at me. I looked back at her and said "How? Did you-." She smiled and said "He was bad and needed to go. You are nice and I like you but I need to go too." Her eyes were so captivating I kinda got lost in her eyes. I guess it was the sapphire eyes that got to me. She let my hand go and started to walk off. "Wait, where will you go? You could come with us, back to where we were staying." She looked back and smiled again. "I can't." Then she turned into the ally way and she was gone. Mitch looked at me then looked in the direction of the little girl was going. "What the Hell was she… such a small girl but such power?" Mitch's face was blown away. I can understand. But, "Dude, we need to find a place to stay for the night. I think they more will be coming after what just happened." I pointed to the door way of the house that the little girl was in. "We can stay in there." I looked around, "We can block off the stairs with the bed." I grabbed the spring bed and blocked the Stairs. "All right I think that we shouldn't even go out today." I whispered. He shook his head in agreeance. "Well leave tomorrow, hopefully" I looked at the ground and tossed a pebble to the ground. "Let's just set up and just rest. We'll be ready for whatever tomorrow." I look went back up to Mitch. "Yeah, sound good. Ahh, you rest up first I'll take first watch." I picked a spot to lie on and dossed off.